Obama: Lower Gas Prices By Taxing Big Oil More

In his weekly address to the nation Saturday, Obama sought to redirect consumers’ anger with his administration to anger with Congress for allowing companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron to receive $4 billion from the federal government every year.

“Your member of Congress should be fighting for you. Not for big financial firms. Not for big oil companies,” Obama claimed.

“In the next few weeks, I expect Congress to vote on ending these subsidies,” he continued. “And when they do, we’re going to put every single Member of Congress on record: They can either stand up for oil companies, or they can stand up for the American people.”

Lefties think ending these subsidies wouldn’t force the oil companies to raise gas prices because big oil already makes so much money. Really? Their net profit margin is 7.9%. Out of all the industries they rank 91st in profits out of 216 industries listed.

The federal Energy Information Administration reports that the industry paid some $35.7 billion in corporate income taxes in 2009, the latest year for which data are available…That figure also doesn’t count excise taxes, state taxes and rents, royalties, fees and bonus payments. All told, the government rakes in $86 million from oil and gas every day—far more than from any other business.

Not paying their “fair share”? Here’s a staggering fact: The Tax Foundation estimates that, between 1981 and 2008, oil and gas companies sent more dollars to Washington and the state capitols than they earned in profits for shareholders.

…As for the “subsidies” that Mr. Obama says the oil industry receives, these aren’t direct cash handouts like those that go to the green lobby. They’re deductions from taxes that cover the cost of doing business and earning income to tax in the first place. Most of them are available to other manufacturers.

Hmmmm, how about those green subsidies? Now those are real subsidies with millions of dollars in cash handed over without any due diligence and when those companies go belly up the tax payers are left holding the bag:

…Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009.

The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.

If eliminating government subsidies for oil companies might make gas less expensive, why wouldn’t eliminating government subsidies for General Electric make, say, refrigerators cheaper? Wait, the latter subsidies are for “green” projects so they’re okay.

A new analysis issued this week by the nonprofit, liberal advocacy group says that based on GE’s annual report for 2011 — filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday — the industrial conglomerate had an effective tax rate of only 11.3 percent. That undercuts company statements that its U.S. tax rate for last year was a considerably higher 25 percent. Whichever is accurate, the figure is far below the official U.S. corporate-tax rate of 35 percent.

The analysis, which compiled GE’s profits and tax payments from 2002 to 2011, also concluded that the company has paid about $1.8 billion in federal income taxes on $81.2 billion worth of pretax U.S. profits since 2002, an annual average of 2.3 percent.

Any whining about that from Obama?

No, instead he will continue to pound an industry that employs millions of people across this country, an industry that makes very little profit wise when compares to other industries, and an industry that is providing a indispensable service.

While doling out millions to the green industry that continues to go bankrupt.

59 Responses to “Obama: Lower Gas Prices By Taxing Big Oil More”

rich, the discussion by those linked, and myself, is not about what stock “picks” they have, or would be doing. It is about the entire market rally, and how it’s being fed by the flow of money from government (i.e. taxpayers cash). Stop moving goalposts and stay focused.

I’ll remind you of the conversation:

rich: Dow up nearly 5000 points since BHO took over and talking heads have missed an incredible rally and don’t know with ANY certainty when it will end.

mata: Sure they know when it will end, rich. When the government money runs stops flowing.

rich: What does that mean and more importantly when will it happen so I can get short?

I’ve now explained to you “what it means”, and the purdy pic above shows you the federal balance sheet since Obama took over.

Smorgasbord

You were on suggesting BHO won’t be running in Nov.
Thought that bizarre and commented.

I find it bizarre that anyone with an open mind can look at the certificate and not see that it is a fake. This tells me that you are either one of the dedicated liberals that will fight to the death for your king, or you are one who just likes to start something and see how far you can go with it.

I hope it is the first, because that means you are ignorant of what is going on and that you just don’t want to check things out for yourself. I used to be that way, and there were enough of us that we let the politicians vote in all kinds of stuff for themselves. That is why I blame myself for the mess we are in, but I am also trying to fix what I can. Saying there isn’t a leak in a boat, doesn’t get it fixed.

Smorgasbord

@MataHarley: #46
If he won’t admit that it is easy to tell that Obama’s birth certificate is a fake, why do you think he will believe anything else he is shown. Is it possible he is just playing with you? If you want to play with him, that is your choice.

anticsrocks

@Smorgasbord: I am of two thoughts on this subject. Since his father was a subject of the crown, I am thinking that made Obama the same.

That being said, as far him not getting on the ballot in enough states so as to disable him from gathering enough electoral college votes is an interesting scenario. So on one hand I think it would be a remarkable outcome if this were to happen and on the other, I think I would rather see him trounced in the general election so that it isn’t an eligibility issue, but rather an indictment on his policies that have damaged this great country. We all know how thin skinned he is, imagine the caterwauling and hand wringing from not only Obama himself, but the MSM, Acedemia, and the entire left side of the aisle, so to speak, that would arise because it wouldn’t be “fair” to keep him off the ballots. No, ’tis better to let the American people speak redefining hope and change to hoping he loses the election and changing the ‘occupier’ (if you will) of the Oval Office.

There are a whole host of issues that bother me about Obama and his natural born citizen status, I will admit is probably at the bottom of my list. The clusterf*ck that would come about if it were proven in a court, conclusively, beyond all shadow of a doubt that he was not eligible to be POTUS would boggle the mind.

What to do with all the bills he has signed into law?

What to do with all the EO’s he has signed?

The judicial appointments, not only to the Supreme Court, but at the Appellate levels as well.

Then there are all the other appointments a President makes.

To borrow a phrase from Romney’s communications director, we can’t just shake the etch-a-sketch and go back to 2008. There would be no do-over.

Again, if it were to be declared, then would Biden be named President? Or would he be ineligible as well? I would suppose that since he was voted into the office of the Vice President, that eligibility would not be an issue with Biden.

For these reasons, and the plethora of issues that would crop up, I feel the best course of action is to vote him out of office and repeal the laws put into place by him, and then if investigations continue and he is found ineligible we would have the luxury of time to work things out.

And if, after he is out of office and it is found that he duped the American public, I think that legislation preventing this from happening ever again would be called for.

But as I said, citizenship status aside, he carries so much baggage, that it ought to be easy pickin’s for the GOP this fall.

Obamacare

Gitmo

The Stimulus

Solyndra & the Green Energy debacle

Turning the EPA into attack dogs against any person or business trying to make a living

Saying he would cut the deficit in half

His two very weak liberal SCOTUS judges

His Attorney General and the Fast & Furious baggage he carries

All his radical associations that are coming out of hiding thanks to the legacy of work Breitbart left behind

The Keystone Pipeline

Shutting down oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

Privatizing the Student Loan industry

And I could go on and on, but the point is that even without the eligibility issue, we have enough ammo for an two elections.

I know you were commenting to Rich, and that I stuck my nose into your conversation. I just wanted to throw my two cents in about Obama’s citizen status.

Maybe after the election this fall, when he loses, we could make him ambassador to Iran. They seem to just love him there…

Smorgasbord

@anticsrocks: #55
In reference to your comment about Obama possibly not being on some state ballots, you said:

…magine the caterwauling and hand wringing from not only Obama himself, but the MSM, Acedemia, and the entire left side of the aisle, so to speak, that would arise because it wouldn’t be “fair” to keep him off the ballots.

The way I see it, if Obama comes down, that means the democratic party will come down with him, since they KNOWINGLY ran an illegal, and the propaganda media will be brought down because the public will want to know why they hadn’t been reporting on the stuff leading up to his arrest. Thinking of Obama in handcuffs just put a smile on my face.

What to do with all the bills he has signed into law?

Voided

What to do with all the EO’s he has signed?

Voided

The judicial appointments, not only to the Supreme Court, but at the Appellate levels as well.

Voided

Then there are all the other appointments a President makes.

Voided

…would Biden be named President? Or would he be ineligible as well?

Unfortunately, the results of Obama being declared ineligible aren’t all good. Joe would take over if he can prove he is legally qualified to be president. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have to prove he has a high enough IQ to be president.

Letting Obama run again, to me, is like letting a drunk take me home. They might make it OK. I believe the republicans GAVE Obama the election. Remember all of the compliments McCain gave him, including that he thought Obama would make a good president?

As I have mentioned different times, I don’t believe that we have two parties any more, just one with two branches. I’ll take the consequences of Obama being ousted rather than the consequences of him being elected again.

ilovebeeswarzone

MATA
I don’t know if one mentionned it,
I just heard that THEOIL COMPANY VALDEZ CLOSE, AND I wonder if the ALASKA CITIZENS WILL GET ALL WHAT WAS AGREED TO BE PAID TO THEM FOR THE DAMMAGES OF THE OIL SPILL
OF YEARS AGO.
BYE

ilovebeeswarzone

MATA YES IT MUST BE , BUT I heard it in a different wording that was today in FOX NEWS, SO
I UNDERSTOOD THAT IT HAS JUST HAPPENED NOW, AND CAME TO TELL IT HERE, and I added the comment that they where so slow in paying the damages because I had read it before,
and was wondering if the people would get their due afterward,
THANK’S FOR CORRECTING THE STORY,